About

Life for me has been riddled with challenges. The majority of them coming on account of the fact that I, Hollis Peirce, am living life as a disabled individual with Congenital Muscular Dystrophy as many things are not accessible to me. However, I have never let this fact hold me back from accomplishing my goals. Because of this, when I first started studying history I knew I was not choosing an easy subject for a disabled individual such as myself. All those old, heavy, books on high library shelves that history is known for made it one of the most inaccessible subjects possible to study. All that changed however, when I discovered digital history.

It was thanks to a new mandatory class for history majors at Carleton University called The Historian’s Craft taught by a professor named Dr Shawn Graham. This course was aimed at teaching students all about how to become a historian, and how a historian is evolving through technology. At that moment the idea for ‘Accessibility & Digital History’ came to mind. From that point on many steps have been taken to advance my studies in this field, which has led to being selected as the first George Garth Graham Undergraduate Digital History Reseach Fellow.

This blog will be dedicated to my research throughout this experience and the many discoveries along the way. Please join me in making the path to our history more accessible!